- Date: 2023-06-28
- Pct day: 54
- Start: Mile 767
- End: Mile 767
- Distance: 15 miles
- Ascent: feet
- Descent: feet
- Start name: Campsite near Mt Whitney turnoff
- End name: Campsite near Mt Whitney turnoff
- Wake up: 10:15pm
- Start hiking: 10:45pm
- At camp: 13:00
- In bed: 19:00
- Where I slept: tent
- Shower: no
- Best thing: Mt Whitney Summit
- Worst thing: Sierra blues
Key moments
- Couldn’t get much sleep - it was bright outside as we were going to bed at 4 to wake up in about 6 hours, and I actually felt quite nervous about the summit.
- 2 people in the group have never used an ice axe before and I feel like if I’d known that before maybe I would have made a different decision about the Sierras altogether.
- We all left pretty much on time 10:50pm and headed out for a summit of the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states of America.
- There was almost an electric sense of energy in the air - excitement, fear, nervousness.
- I had a great moment where we were hiking out and walking over suncups - these cool snow formations that are basically large dish like dimples in the snow with troughs and peaks, they are a bit tricky to walk on, but under the moonlight and my headlamp I felt free and flowing across the tops. Every step felt right.
- Navigation was a bit an issue in the dark, but we eventually made our way to the switchbacks, which were half covered in snow.
- There was the occasional exciting moment where we realised we were walking over a snow bridge - basically we were walking over a stream. These can be dangerous because if they collapse you can fall into running water that may or may not be deep and/or swiftly moving.
- Things got a bit intense here, and we tried to cut up to a switchback by ascending the snow by kicking in our crampons and using the ice axe - a move called “north walling”. It was probably good that we were in the dark and couldn’t see how high we were and what the exposure was. You feel secure with your ice axe. And I was finally glad to have my fancy crampons. But it was also a good idea to not look down. Also a good moment to not trip.
- A fall from here would maybe send you off, and home in a box.
- We ended up having a slight epic and north walled up about 10 metres and traversing right before realising we couldn’t make it onto the switchback and then we descended.
- Getting through these switchbacks was really tiring and I was wishing that I had boots rather than trail runners with my crampons.
- Traversing the snow covered switchbacks on crampons was tough going
- We made it past the switchbacks and then there was a really fun walk up and along up to the summit of Mt Whitney.
- There was a very funny moment where Fancypants said “I need to take a meeting” once we got to the tip. Always a tough moment, when there isn’t any visible dirt to dig up.
- I was feeling very emotional going up to the top of the mountain. It was exhausting heading up, and my spirits were low.
- I had hoped I could get phone service and call Katie and my parents. Alex said he talked to his Dad at the top. I was holding on to the idea of calling Katie to tell her how much I missed her and how much I wished she was there. The thought of hearing her voice on the other end of the line had me sobbing as I slowly made my way up to the top of what felt like the top of the world.
- We do not remember days, we remember moments. And this was a moment.
- It is hard to put into words, so some poetic descriptions are what will follow.
- I got to the top and it was simply the most beautiful summit I have ever been to.
- It was the single purest moment of my entire life.
- Like a bright bell ringing in your heart, running through your body, through your mind, into your soul, into my past self, standing at the southern terminus, wondering if I’d ever make it here.
- The enormity of this journey, this quest to go to Canada on the PCT, the years of planning, thinking about these moments and imagining what they might feel like.
- The realisation of the dangers we had been through to get up here in the dark.
- It all came together in a moment, a feeling, a sound, running through me like the purest light, the clearest note, the softest touch.
- I cried and sobbed, loudly. I still get emotional thinking about the summit now.
- Fancy pants was crying too. We hugged. It was a great moment. We were alive.
- It was also super cold up there - my water bottle froze.
- It was a bittersweet thing, it was nice to enjoy the summit but it was so cold it was hard to take good photos and I wish I’d taken some cooler ones of me, but I was just so emotional and it was quite overwhelming and also SO cold.
- We hunkered down beside a shelter that was full of snow for about half an hour, taking out our sleeping bags, we all cooked a bit of food and tried to warm up but it wasn’t an ideal situation.
- Franck (Owl) stood in the shelter, there was barely enough space for him to stand there. He made himself some hot tea. He was very very cold, it was almost a worry.
- We saw a couple of other folks make their way up. It was pretty special to see the sunrise at the top, all to ourselves.
- We descended and realised the epic we had been on during the early hours of the dark in the morning. It kind of spooked me and the future snow traverses that were quite steep were a bit scary, so I had to take my time to do them safely.
- It was a much quicker descent down once we could see the switchbacks and also optional rock scrambles, which was nice.
- Although there were some quite sketchy rock scrambles on the scree. Think fridge sized boulders that seemed to move more than a little when you put weight on them. Not ideal.
- The snow on the valley floor was mushy and it made slow going to get back to camp. It felt like it was taking forever.
- Hiking down the suncups towards guitar lake was funny - people were glissading down to save time. I was fairly sure if I did that I’d tear my pants and might snag my ankles. The ice is actually quite rough. But they were having fun.
- I started to sing songs and ramble on while chatting to Pulse. She fell over at one point and just lay there, wanting to have a snooze.
- My brain felt scrambled and I was mildly freaking out about the future days in the Sierra. I miss Katie, I miss having people around who know me. It’s a nice bunch of people on the trail at the moment but I’m still getting to know everyone and doing these alpine starts has been grinding me down.
- While the trail is beautiful, I feel like maybe I’m not seeing the Sierras at ideal time as a PCT hiker and I’m not sure this pace is working for me. It’s tricky because in the desert you could just say goodbye to the people you’re hiking with and take a shorter day, but in the Sierras everything is more intense - you want to stay together to be safe, and everyone’s pace is kind of changing up and everyone’s working out how to be around a new group of people
- My crampons are made of aluminium and they had been blunted a lot from walking on so much rock.
- We came back to the campsite we were at to see a bunch of other hikers who were all psyched to see Mt Whitney. It was some of the most people I’ve seen on the PCT.
- The ranger had a chat to us, she seemed really cool. Not nearly as many hikers this time of year as normal.
- Talking to a bunch of other hikers at our campsite about Forester pass it sounds like some of the challenges with it are a bit of fear mongering, a bunch of the hikers have chatted to people who’ve done it recently and it sounds like the ice chute is fine and has good boot steps put into it, I just hope my slightly blunted crampons go alright.
Plan from here
- Do another alpine start in the morning get close to Forester Pass
Animals sighted
Gear thoughts
- my xtherm sleeping pad had a leak. Goddamn it
- I hope my crampons aren’t too blunted
Physical condition
- Sore legs
- Sore feet
- No bad blisters?
- 2nd toe has a black nail and I think it might fall off
- Weird slightly open blister on the arch of my foot - taping in the morning seems to help slightly. Also pain killers. And Caffeine.
- Every step hurts.
Thoughts and Observations
Some of the bad things
- Honestly I was just really struggling today. I sobbed for a while in my tent and I’ve cried writing this. I want to get out of the Sierras, but I also want to push myself within my boundaries of safety . I also don’t want to hike 3 days back to get out to the previous pass.
- I really miss being around people who know me, who get me, it’s not that the PCT hikers don’t gel with me, it’s just that sense of being with people who know you. It’s lonely. The people I’m hiking with are great but I think if I can’t hike the same pace as them then I’m missing out on some of the things that I really want out of the PCT.
Quotes of the day
- The trail is the family
#pct #pct2023 #pctclassof2023
